Yes, as you’ll likely know, Death Stranding, Hideo Kojima’s incredibly good walking simulator, has got itself a fancy big sequel this week in the form of Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, and we’ve been playing it in what little free time we’ve got (well, this writer has, at least) over on the old PlayStation side of things.
You’ll be pleased to know that this writer has discovered some vague, possible Mario references in the second game, and it’s only early days!
The references-of-sorts relate to some Mushroom Badges, which are available to sew onto a backpack in the game from the get-go. There a few different mushroom badges, even a triple set – just like in Mario Kart! Can it be a coincidence?
As it turns out these Mushroom Kingdom-styled mushies, rather than just being random as all hell, are actually found in the game world of Death Stranding 2, and its predecessor, (hey, they pop up when you pee!), so it stands to reason that the badges are simply tied innocently to this whole mechanic.
However, we’re suspect of this being entirely and purely coincidental, especially given the choice of a Fly Agaric mushroom over any of the millions of other types you could have chosen.
Yes, you may argue that this type of mushroom appears in lots of games, possibly way more than any other, but then you’d be kicking this theory right in the Sam Porters, which isn’t very nice. Anyway, the game, as you can see from our images, calls them “Golden Toadstools”, so we’re still 100% behind our working theory!
If you’ve played the original Death Stranding, then this probably won’t surprise you. You’ll already know, possibly by way of a lot of cringing, that the game contains references to Mario and Princess Peach, with one very on the nose line in particular, as seen in the clip below (warning, it’s worse than you may remember).
Rightio! There are many discussions online about comparisons between the Mario and Peach relationship mirroring that of the leads in Death Stranding, but we’ll let you dig your own hole there.
We’ll be sure to check back in if we find any Bullet Bill in Death Stranding 2 in the meantime.
Is this yet more proof that Hideo Kojima is the world’s biggest Princess Peach fan? Let us know what you reckon!
Source link